Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford

Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford (1120-December 1194) was Earl of Oxford from 1141 to 1194, preceding Aubrey de Vere. He was the first man to hold the title "Earl of Oxford".

Biography
Aubrey de Vere was the son of Aubrey de Vere II, master chamberlain. In 1138, he was made Count of Guines by right of his wife Beatrice, the granddaughter and heiress of the Count of Guines in northern France. In 1141, his father was slain by a mob in London, and he succeeded him as Master Chamberlain of England. He did homage to Empress Matilda after King Stephen of England's capture at the Battle of Lincoln, and his brother-in-law, the Earl of Essex, negotiated the grant of the Earldom of Oxford to Aubrey in 1141. In 1143, however, King Stephen arrested Essex and Oxford at St. Albans, and both were forced to surrender their castles to the King to regain their liberty. Oxford did not actively support his brother-in-law when he rebelled after his release, and he lost the County of Guines after his father-in-law arranged for Beatrice to divorce Aubrey in 1144.

In the winter of 1152-53, Oxford was with the King at the Siege of Wallingford, having joined his cause. He later married Agnes of Essex, and he attempted to annul his marriage to her after her father-in-law was accused of treason; he kept her locked up, forbade her from attending church, and did not cohabit with her. The Bishop of London reported this to Pope Alexander III, who directed Oxford to restore her conjugal rights. The two eventually had four sons, including Aubrey and Robert, two future Earls of Oxford. During the civil war of 1173-74, Aubrey helped to repel Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester after his landing in Suffolk in 1173. In 1189, he was present at the coronation of King Richard I of England, and he died in 1194.